The IHS Markit Set-top Box Intelligence vendor relationships database contains a record of which Set-top Box vendors are currently working with which pay TV operators, on a by-operator basis, for over 80 countries and over 500 operations.

US telecommunications equipment maker CommScope will acquire Arris, in a $7.4B deal valued at $5.69 billion, with the difference comprised of CommScope’s assumption of Arris’s debt. As part of the deal, the Carlyle Group will make a $1M equity investment in CommScope for an approximate 16% stake in the new company.
CommScope’s CEO Eddie Edwards has claimed the two companies’ product lines are complementary, and that the combined company will “enable end-to-end wired and wireless communications infrastructure solutions that neither company could otherwise achieve on its own.”
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019.

For journalists who follow the latest news and trends in consumer electronics, IHS Markit analysts will be available for commentary ahead of and onsite at IFA 2018 in Berlin, Germany, from August 31 to September 5, 2018.

Verizon recently announced the rollout of its 5G wireless home broadband service in the US, 5G Home, with orders opening September 13th, 2018 and launch beginning October 1st in Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.
The company is touting typical speeds of approximately 300 Mbps, peaking at 1 Gigabit, with no data caps. The service is priced at $50/month for existing Verizon subscribers, and $70/month for non-subscribers, and comes with three months of YouTube TV free. Subscribers also receive their choice of a free Google Chromecast Ultra or Apple TV 4K.

As smart functionality makes its way into homes and businesses, two devices are gaining a foothold into broader ecosystems to maximize growth and revenue opportunities: smart speakers and smart meters.

Amazon announced its newest member of the Echo smart speaker line on June 7, the Fire TV Cube. Combining Echo smart speaker functionality, a new 8-mic far-field voice recognition array and the features of the company's Fire TV streaming video devices, the $119 Fire TV Cube will be available June 21.

On June 6th, Sonos launched its new $399 Beam soundbar, a combination Sonos connected speaker, assistant-agnostic smart speaker, and home theater soundbar. Though the device is a logical progression from the company's existing line of connected speakers, high end TV-centric solutions (Playbar and Playbase), and Sonos One agnostic smart speaker, it represents a significant point in the market's progression towards voice-driven interfaces as the interconnect across home media consumption.

The standalone powered speaker has gone through several evolutions, and up until recently, Wi-Fi multi-room speakers were the most advanced example of the product category for consumers. As the smart home market continues to evolve and coalesce around standards and ecosystems, and as ecosystem owners compete for a foothold in the connected home, the Smart Speaker was born.

The 2018 CES tradeshow was dominated by common themes revolving around AI, such as machine learning, voice interfaces, and digital assistants. Building upon the AI-first focus of CES, Apple’s HomePod launch, and Google’s increased aggression in language support for Google Assistant just announced at Mobile World Congress 2018, competition within the market for smart speakers and related digital assistants has now truly begun escalating sharply.
IHS Markit expects annual shipments of smart speakers to grow steadily from 32 million units in 2017 to 47 million in 2018, reaching 85 million in 2021. This is only a fraction of the more than 5 billion consumer devices supporting digital assistants in use by the end of 2018, with nearly 3 billion more added by the end of 2021.

IBC 2017 was ostensibly dominated by a host of Android TV, voice control, analytics, and cloud DVR-related announcements. In actuality, virtually every announcement trumpeted at the show can be traced to a single, inexorable market reality. The Web Giants have indelibly made their mark on the video technology industry.

Google’s Android TV Summit at IBC 2017 underscored this year’s show as a significant turning point for Android TV as a platform within the pay TV landscape. Introduced in 2014 and first making a prominent appearance at IBC in 2015, Android TV was formerly seen as both OTT-centric as well as operator-unfriendly in regards to Google’s control over the user interface and experience. Additionally, two years ago, the specter of security concerns at both the hardware and OS level remained. This year, it was clear that many concerns have been addressed and Android TV is gaining considerable momentum within the pay-TV sector.

Display shipments for notebook PCs are forecast to increase by 5 percent in 2017 to 177 million units compared to the previous year, while notebook PC unit shipments are expected to remain flat during the same period.